First day of pre-season testing delivers surprise as world champions Mercedes endure difficult start with new W12 car; Max Verstappen two tenths ahead of Lando Norris at head of timesheet in the new Red Bull; Ferrari also hit early reliability trouble
Friday 12 March 2021 21:01, UK
Red Bull's Max Verstappen led McLaren's Lando Norris on the opening day of 2021 testing in Bahrain as world champions Mercedes endured an uncharacteristically difficult start to pre-season with their new car.
At the start of F1's shortened three-day track build-up to the new season, which also begins in Bahrain in two weeks' time, Red Bull completed the most laps and claimed the fastest time with Verstappen on an impressive full debut for their RB16B car.
But it was a different story for world champions Mercedes, the usual standard-bearers for out-of-the-box running in testing.
Mercedes ran into a gearbox problem after their new W12's very first lap - an issue that team boss Toto Wolff said "came out of nowhere" - and were confined to the garage for three hours while the unit was changed by mechanics.
Valtteri Bottas ended up completing only six laps in the morning session before handing over the car for team-mate Lewis Hamilton's debut in the car after the lunch break.
Hamilton was able to rack up 42 laps but the car's handling appeared difficult, with the seven-time world champion running wide off track on several occasions.
Grip levels were not helped by the arrival of an afternoon sandstorm at the desert venue, as high winds blew sand and dust onto the circuit amid poor visibility.
Hamilton finished 10th on the timesheet and, although lap times count for little at this early stage of testing in particular with teams running to different programmes, Mercedes' overall lap count of 46 was a far cry from recent seasons when they have regularly topped 150 laps on day one of running.
Like Red Bull, McLaren too enjoyed a promising start to 2021 on their first full day of testing on their return to Mercedes engines for 2021.
New signing Daniel Ricciardo topped the morning session in the MCL35M before Norris took second place on the overall timesheet to Verstappen, just two tenths adrift of the Dutchman on the same C3 soft tyres.
"It was really good. It was a nice half a day," said Ricciardo. "Everything went pretty smooth. It's nice to see your name up at the top but really testing day one is about reliability and making sure everything runs.
"It was nice to get back into it."
Along with Verstappen and Williams' tester Roy Nissany, Esteban Ocon was in his car for the full eight hours of track running and the Frenchman took the new-look Alpine team and car to a solid third place after 129 laps.
Lance Stroll was fourth for Aston Martin, another team which have undergone a significant rebrand over the winter, after new team-mate Sebastian Vettel had driven the AMR21 for 51 laps during the morning.
In a bid to move themselves back up the order after languishing in the unfamiliar confines of F1's midfield last year, Ferrari have focused on changes at the rear of their SF21 car - including an all-new power unit - and the Italian team spent the second day in a row on track at Sakhir after a 100km-limited filming day on Thursday.
Charles Leclerc drove in the morning session but on his 58th lap was told by the team over the radio to stop by the side of the track after they spotted an engine combustion anomaly. However, after checks over the lunch break, Ferrari resumed their programme with new signing Carlos Sainz taking over for a further 57 laps.
Haas also experienced reliability problems during Mick Schumacher's morning session in the car, with the F1 rookie restricted to 15 laps in the VF-21.
